1) How To Protest Local ISDN Tariffs AND
2) WHY IT IS SO IMPORTANT
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Date: Thu, 4 Apr 1996 11:08:43 -0500 (EST)
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From: James Love <love@essential.org>
To: Multiple recipients of list <tap-info@essential.org>
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On Thu, 4 Apr 1996, Giorgio Gomelsky wrote:
Am personally very willing to help similar action in New York
if there
are other ISDNers in NY to connect to or collaborate with, please
instruct.
We have hired Todd Paglia, a lawyer, to provide free legal assistance
to consumers who want to challenge local ISDN tariffs. His email
is
tpaglia@tap.org, his phone is 202/387-8030. Basically, if a tariff
is
pending, its a case of filing comments for the record (as many
as
possible), and talking with the PUC staff and the local consumer
advocate.
Things that have been quite effective are giving out copies of
the
various intel filings, Scott Rafferty's Delaware testimony, the
NRRI
ISDN cost study, some of our (CPT) pleadings, and the CPT survey
of tariffs.
The comments also need to make it concrete why ISDN is important
to
people, and how the high prices hurt consumers and infomation
services
providers.
If there is no tariff pending, then Todd needs to find out the
proceedure
for petitioning the agency for a review of the tariff. this is
quite
different from state to state. but we would love to get something
going
in NYC.
It is also important to get industry groups involved. Intel and
Compaq
have made a huge impact in several US West states..., and in New
Mexico
and Arizona there are broad information industry coalitions involved..
This is pretty powerful stuff for the PUCs..
Send Todd a note if you want to proceed. These things work best
when
the local consumers are truly active and involved, setting up
local web
pages on the tariff battle, making calls to Commission staff and
local
newspapers, etc...
.... jamie
June 26, 1996
ISDN pricing in Bell Atlantic States
- CPT sets up Web page for Bell Atlantic Consumers at:
http://www.essential.org/cpt/isdn/bellnews.html
- Maryland Accepts comments on ISDN rates by electronic
mail (ISDN@psc.state.md.us) and sets public hearing for
July 3. Additional details about battles in other
Bell Atlantic States.
Bell Atlantic consumers in Maryland, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia have an
opportunity to fight for lower residential ISDN tariffs, if
you act swiftly. [Virginia already has an open docket on
residential ISDN pricing, and filings in West Virginia are
expected soon].
In Maryland, the Public Service Commission (PSC) has agreed
to accept comments on the issue by electronic mail, at:
ISDN@psc.state.md.us. Maryland is also giving the public an
opportunity to be heard at a public hearing on July 3.
Commissions in NJ, PA and DC have declined to provide a
public hearing on the tariffs, or to accept comments by
electronic mail, but they will accept written comments. CPT
has set up a Bell Atlantic ISDN Action page on the Web with
information about the proceedings at:
http://www.essential.org/cpt/isdn/bellnews.html
BACKGROUND
Briefly, Bell Atlantic (BA) is asking for tariffs which are
based upon the amount of time that you use the ISDN
connection, and this can add up. A "BRI" ISDN line gives
you two 64 Kbps "B" channels, which can be "bonded" into a
fast 128 Kbps connection (referred to as 2B). You can also
use BRI ISDN as two separate voice or fax lines, with
multiple telephone numbers, or the line can be dynamically
configured on the fly.
BA is asking for 2 cents per minute (per B channel)from 7 am
to 7 pm, or 1 cent per minute from 7 pm to 7 am. If you use
the faster 128 Kbps connection (isn't' the point of ISDN to
have a faster connection?), it would cost from $2.40 to
$1.20 per hour to make a local call to your Internet service
provider (ISP).
BA also offers "callpack" options, where the consumer can
pre-purchase blocks of time at large discounts. For
example, one could buy the 140 hours callpack for $60 per
month. This would allow a user to have 70 hours at 128 Kbps
(or 140 hours at 64 Kpbs). But you have to pay for the time
even if you don't use it, and if you go over, you are stuck
with the hefty per-minute fees. The BA flat rate option is
a whopping $249 per month, the most expensive in the United
States.
The BA tariffs are not inevitable. Quite a few states have
adopted much lower residential ISDN tariffs. Highly
relevant is the recent decision by the Delaware PSC
approving a flat rate residential ISDN tariff of $28.02,
about $221 less than the rate requested by Bell Atlantic.
In Arkansas, the Northern Arkansas Telephone Company charges
only $17.90 per month, flat rate, for residential ISDN
service. In California, the Roseville Telephone Company
charges $29.50 for residential ISDN. Four of the five
Midwest states served by Ameritech offer ISDN at a little
more than twice the POTS rate with no per minute charges
(Illinois $28.05 to $34.50, Ohio $32.20, Michigan $33.51,
and Wisconsin $30.90). In Tennessee, BellSouth charges $25
to $29 for flat rate ISDN. In New Mexico, the Commission
recently approved a $40 flat rate.
You can get a better Bell Atlantic ISDN tariff if you fight
now! The most important immediate thing is to get comments
into the record in opposition to the BA filing, and to ask
for lower rates. It is also helpful to call up the
Commission in your state and talk to the staff person who is
assigned to the issue.
In addition to the Bell Atlantic ISDN Action page
(http://www.essential.org/cpt/isdn/bellnews.html),
you might find these links helpful.
CPT's ISDN pricing talking points:
http://www.essential.org/cpt/isdn/isdntalk.html
Fred Goldstein's ISDN pricing talking points.
http://www.essential.org/cpt/isdn/fred.txt
James Love (love@tap.org/202-387-8030
Consumer Project on Technology
http://www.essential.org/cpt
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
James Love / love@tap.org / P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
Voice: 202/387-8030; Fax 202/234-5176
Center for Study of Responsive Law
Consumer Project on Technology; http://www.essential.org/cpt
Taxpayer Assets Project; http://www.tap.org
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